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Shanghai to host skating worlds

2014-07-30 15:12 Shanghai Daily Web Editor: Si Huan
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From left: Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, 2010 Winter Olympic Games ice dance champion pair, pose with Chinese skaters Peng Cheng, Zhang Hao, Li Zijun, Shen Xue, Zhao Hongbo and Yan Han during a press conference. — Dong Jun/Shanghai Daily

From left: Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, 2010 Winter Olympic Games ice dance champion pair, pose with Chinese skaters Peng Cheng, Zhang Hao, Li Zijun, Shen Xue, Zhao Hongbo and Yan Han during a press conference. — Dong Jun/Shanghai Daily

Shanghai will host the first ISU World Figure Skating Championships in China next year, organizers of the event announced on Tuesday.

The event will be staged at Shanghai Oriental Sports Center from March 23 to 29, 2015, and will feature world's top class skaters in men's and women's singles, pair skating and ice dancing.

"We've been looking forward to this day for a long time," said Zhao Hongbo, the retired world champion and the current coach of the Chinese national team. "It is a pity that I can't compete in my home country. But Chinese skaters will surely try to give their best in front of home audience."

Zhao, who with his partner — and now his wife — Shen Xue, are China's most successful Chinese pair in figure skating history. They won the world championships title in 2002, 2003 and 2007, and grabbed a Winter Olympics gold medal in 2010 in Vancouver.

As coach of Team China's pairs event, Zhao said competing at home has its advantage but it could also put a lot of pressure on young skaters.

His fears were shared by Yan Han, who finished 7th in the men's singles at the Sochi Winter Games in February.

"I feel excited but also nervous (about the Shanghai event)," Yan said.

"I haven't set a specific goal for myself, but I need to work on my mental strength and self-confidence to face the world's best skaters."

With veteran skaters hanging up their skates, China will send in a young squad for next year's event.

Yan Han and Li Zijun, both 18 years old, will compete in the singles, while Zhang Hao will partner 19-year-old Peng Cheng in the pairs competition.

Zhang Hao is more familiar with top class events. The 30-year-old won the silver medal at the 2006 Winter Games with former partner Zhang Dan.

They were also the runners-ups at the 2006 world championships.

"Over the past decade, pair dancing has shown its limitation regarding development and innovation. What we can do is raise the level of action and improve coordination," Zhang said.

Zhang and his new partner Peng Cheng have just come back from a training session in Canada, where they practiced a new set of short program and free skate routines.

Earlier this month, China's capital Beijing, along with Almaty in Kazakhstan and Oslo in Norway, were accepted as candidate cities for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

"This is also a chance to present China's confidence for the bidding of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games," said Yang Dong, chief of China Sports Bureau's figure skating office.

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